nd Kings _Chapter 19

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, draped himself in linen, and entered the temple of the Lord.

Make Eliakim the ruler of the house, Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests draped in sackcloth, and go to see Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz,

And he said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, Today is a day of distress, punishment, and humiliation, just as a woman is about to give birth to a baby, but has no strength to give birth.

Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, which his master the king of Assyria sent him to insult the living God. When the Lord your God hears these words, he will rebuke him. Therefore, please raise your voice and pray for the remaining people.

King Hezekiah’s servants went to see Isaiah.

Isaiah said to them, ‘This is what the Lord says to your master:’ Do not be afraid when you hear the words of the servants of the king of Assyria who have blasphemed me against me. ‘.

I will stir the spirit into his heart, and he will hear the wind and return to his own land. I will make him fall by the sword there.

Rabshakeh returned and encountered the king of Assyria attacking Rinah. He had heard that the king of Assyria had withdrawn from Lachish.

The king of Assyria heard someone say about King Tehakah of Ethiopia, ‘He has come out to fight against you.’. So the king of Assyria sent messengers to Hezekiah and commanded them, saying,

This is what you say to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let the God you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.

Have you ever heard that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the nations? Can you still be saved?

How did the gods of these nations save the nations that my ancestors destroyed, including Gozan, Haran, Rezek, and the people of Eden belonging to Tirasa?

Where are the kings of Hamath, Arbad, Sepharvaim, Henah, and Eva?

Hezekiah took the letter from the messenger’s hand and finished reading it. He then went up to the temple of the Lord and opened the letter before the Lord.

Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying, “Sit on the two cherubim, O God of Israel, you are the God of all the nations under heaven, and you have created heaven and earth.”.

O Lord, give ear and listen. O Lord, open your eyes and see. Listen to the words of Sennacherib, who sent messengers to insult the living God.

O Lord, indeed the kings of Assyria have made the nations and their lands desolate,

Throw all the gods of the nations into the fire. Because it was not a god, but a work of human hands, made of wood and stone, it was destroyed.

O Lord our God, now save us from the hand of the king of Assyria, so that all nations under heaven may know that you, Lord, are God alone.

Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said: Since you have asked me to attack Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard it.

This is what the Lord says about him: The virgins of Zion despise you and mock you. The women of Jerusalem shake their heads at you.

Who are you insulting. Blaspheme who. Raise your voice and raise your eyes to attack who? He is the Holy One who attacks Israel.

You have insulted the Lord through your messengers and said, ‘I led many chariots to the top of the mountain, to the depths of Lebanon.’. I will cut down the tall cedars and beautiful pine trees among them. I will go up to the highest places and enter the forest of fertile fields.

I have already dug a well in a foreign land to drink water. I will dry all the rivers of Egypt with the soles of my feet.

And the Lord said, Have you not heard of what I did earlier, and what I established in ancient times, that I have now made a fortified city desolate and a pile of ruins through you?

So the residents among them have very little power and are frightened and ashamed. They are like wild grass, like green vegetables, like grass on the roof, and like withered crops that have not yet grown.

You sit down, you go out, you come in, you get angry at me, I know it all.

Because of your fierce anger towards me and your arrogant words reaching my ears, I will hook your nose with a hook and put a chewing ring in your mouth, so that you can turn back from the way you came.

O Israelites, I give you this evidence: this year you will eat what you have grown, and next year you will also eat what you have grown. As for the year after tomorrow, you shall cultivate and harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruits.

What remains of us who have escaped must still take root downwards and bear fruit upwards.

There will be a remnant of the people coming out of Jerusalem. There will surely be those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: He shall not come to this city, nor shoot arrows here, nor bring a shield to the front of the city, nor build a fortress against it.

He will return by which road he comes from, and he will not come to this city. This is what the Lord has said.

For my own sake and for the sake of my servant David, I will protect and save this city.

That night, the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185000 people in the Assyrian camp. Someone woke up early in the morning and upon seeing it, they were all dead bodies.

So King Sennacherib of Assyria withdrew from his camp and stayed in Nineveh.

One day, while worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Admelech and Shaleser killed him with the sword and fled to the land of Ararat. His son Isaac Haddon succeeded him as king.